One year ago today: November 1, 2022, hey, cheese is vegetarian.
Five years ago today: November 1, 2018, maybe not worth it?
Nine years ago today: November 1, 2014, keeps on spinning.
Random years ago today: November 1, 1982, I’ve really tried guitar.
We begin, this is the fiscal year declared to be my death by two independent sources (in Mexico City and Delhi) nearly 50 years ago. They said I will die of a nosebleed in my sleep. Starting around eight months ago, I began getting unexplained nosebleeds that can be caused simply by my leaning my head forward too long. Like I do in my sleep. It is also the year I often said that if I was not “rich and famous” by then, I would step forward to become the leader of the resistance so I could begin the expulsion of liberals when I turn 71.
Electricity. I talked with Howie about recent utility bills, they have gone up 33%. I have a bit of a buffer built it but these are serious hits. When I was in to pay my communications bill this morning the manageress caught me to report the system has changed and she may not be able to restart the due date on my CoolPad device. It’s plain Boost wants everybody on credit cards and wants to annoy any grandfathered in accounts into using their latest “services”.
Taxes. Up 26% by the slick trick of arbitrarily declaring everybody’s property assessment was adjusted upward. No effort made to determine if there was any actual increase in value, the motive was to grab more tax money. Overall, taxes have now more than doubled since I bought, from $400 to $930. Still not bad compared to the plight of anyone still renting, but tough luck. I know the sacrifice I had to make to get out of the rental trap—and I don’t recall having a lot of sympathy or company all those years in the trailer court. Looking on-line, such mobile homes as are for rent in Dade county start around $1,300 per month.
Bradford called to check on the jam session times tonight. Hmmm, normally he’d call Emily, so he’s really wanting to know who will be there. Brad bases a lot on that kind of thing. It makes sense (ha-ha) if you only know five songs and they are all over-used standards that you would want to get there before anybody else plays them. There’s another factor—Bradford is not only one of those who deny band management is for real, he has stated it does not work. Where this ties in is Bradford knows my philosophy that the core of a new band is any two members who know all the material themselves.
So, if he shows up tonight and wants to play “Wagon Wheel” (which he flubbed last week), he will likely want my duo to back him up. Now that he’s had a week to memorize his parts he likely believes he is the reason he sounds so much better with a backup band. He’s had his backup bands for years, but somehow they don’t seem to be around all that much, so here’s a spot to make the joke about them not being in it for the money. The resistance I get from other musicians over how the band-formation and function work is one area I will form all kinds of unwarranted opinions. But every one, I guarantee you, is based on a plausible cause for what happens. And whether or not my explanation is the true one, I’ve been right so far.
If he asks use to play in advance, he’s admitting he was wrong and Brad never does that. If he gets on stage without asking, he’s admitting I was right, which to him is equally a no-no. If he tries to solo, he’ll screw the pooch, and he knows by now he won’t be blocking any of the tunes my duo normally plays—because he can’t play any of them, by design. (That's hard to follow, but it's accurate. If Bradford wants to play most of what he knows, he has to get there first.) I watched the movie, “An Amish Murder” and it was an accurate portrayal of a lot. It fails to show just how rich the Amish really are, which might be a concession the way the Biden people have been attacking the community recently. The Biden camp knows America has no place for two collective religious factions, in particular one that does not rely on cultism to infect society. They hate the Amish. (It came to light today that PornHub is owned by a Rabbi.)
Abandoned castle, Morocco.
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The show was a pretty much third-rate, as happens. But it demonstrates the type of problems that occur when there is a lack of band management. I’ll go over a few of them. Don’t you love people who show up for the second consecutive time without an octopus to plug in their equipment? Two facts are known. The club will not have enough outlets near the stage. The outlets near the stage will have a Coors Lite sign plugged in. So bring your own octopus. I know, you may be asking same as me why, with musicians, do such decisions require upper level management?
Bradford did not figure out last week that he’s been left behind. Nor did he practice, I guess he figured it would all come back to him. Like most solo guitarist types, he does not know the intros, breaks or outros, but meven worse, Bradford can’t allow for the parts even when others are on stage. When we play the instrumental breaks, he loses his place. It is possible he does not know there is a chord pattern that accompanies the breaks. I don’t think Bradford has practiced in at least two years. So since 2021, it’s all been talk, huh Bradford?
Now the other guy, Keith (I think), he at least knows he’s weak on most of it. But he can hold a lite solo act together. He’s got around 40 minutes of good material. No other guitar players showed up, which half-defeats my purpose for being there. I seek the contacts, not new band members—although it is clear by now the Prez & I make an excellent backup band, but that is the one thing we are not.
Overall, the show was so disappointing that I did not take any videos. What’s with the picture of the TV? Oh, that’s the big-screen we watch Festus shows on Tuesdays.
